Yayoi Kasuma
I Who Have Arrived in Heaven, 2013
“One day I was looking at the red flower patterns of the tablecloth on a table, and when I looked up I saw the same pattern covering the ceiling, the windows and the walls, and finally all over the room, my body and the universe. I felt as if I had begun to self-obliterate, to revolve in the infinity of endless time and the absoluteness of space, and be reduced to nothingness. As I realized it was actually happening and not just in my imagination, I was frightened. I knew I had to run away lest I should be deprived of my life by the spell of the red flowers. I ran desperately up the stairs. The steps below me began to fall apart and I fell down the stairs straining my ankle”.
Yayoi Kusama said about her 1954 painting titled Flower (D.S.P.S)
late-night chat is filled with dreams, 2009
an encounter with a flowering season, 2009
I want to live honestly, like the eye in the picture, 2009
all about my love, and I long to eat a dream of the night, 2009
guidepost to the new space at pier 45, installed at hudson river park, new york, 2012
Self-Obliteration No.2 1967
Self-Obliteration 1967
Self-Obliteration 1967
YAYOI KUSAMA: New Sculptures and Recent Paintings, 2014
Yayoi Kusama in Mirror Room (Pumpkin), 1991
YAYOI KUSAMA: New Sculptures and Recent Paintings, 2014
“The artist has a strong personal identification with the pumpkin, and has described her images of them as a form of selfportraiture. She admires pumpkins for their hardiness and everyday quality, as well as for their unique and pleasing physical qualities. She has written:
“‘Pumpkin head’ was an epithet used to disparage ugly, ignorant men, and the phrase ‘Put eyes and a nose on a pumpkin’ evoked a pudgy and unattractive woman. It seems that pumpkins do not inspire much respect. But I was enchanted by their charming and winsome form. What appealed to me most was the pumpkin’s generous unpretentiousness. That and its solid spiritual base” (Yayoi Kusama, Infinity Net: The Autobiography of Yayoi Kusama, trans. Ralph McCarthy, London 2011, p.76).” >> Inhale Magazine
Yayoi Kusama in her Infinity Mirror Room – Phalli’s Field, 1965
Infinity Mirrored Room – Filled with the Brilliance of Life, 2011
Polka Dots Madness #6
Louis Vuitton, Fifth Avenue Visual Merchandising, 2012
Her obsession with polka dots has turned up in her paintings and sculptures and recently throughout a collection she has designed for Louis Vuitton.
“…a polka-dot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of the energy of the whole world and our living life, and also the form of the moon, which is calm. Round, soft, colorful, senseless and unknowing. Polka-dots become movement … Polka dots are a way to infinity.”
“Fashion brand Louis Vuitton has collaborated with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama to create a collection of garments featuring Kusama’s obsessional polka dot patterns for a concept store at Selfridges department store in London” >> design boom